Japanese Calligraphy, Shodo, its Chinese Origins and Zen Bond

Japanese calligraphy, shodo in Japanese, is the calligraphy brushed in Japanese. As it happens with many different artistic manifestations in Japan, Japanese calligraphy has its beginnings in Chinese calligraphy. For many centuries one of the most respected calligraphers in Japan was Chinese Wang Xizhi from the 4th century.

Nevertheless, since the Hiragana and Katakana syllabaries were attached to the Japanese writing system, Japanese calligraphers started to create native Japanese approaches of calligraphy.

Types of Japanese Calligraphy

The classic types are almost the same in Chinese calligraphy as in Japanese calligraphy. They are the following:

1. Seal Script, tensho in Japanese language, an ancient style of calligraphy

2. Regular Script, kaisho in Japanese, sometimes called Standard Script in English

3. Clerical Script, reisho in Japanese

4. Semi-Cursive, gyosho  in Japanese

5. Cursive, sosho in Japanese language, also named Running Script in English

The Four Treasures

The four fundamental tools you need for traditional Japanese calligraphy are the Four Treasures and they are: the brush, ink stick, rice paper - also called mulberry paper in the West- and  the inkstone to ground the fresh ink.

Chinese Calligraphy Origins and Introduction to Japan

Chinese calligraphy goes back three thousand years, when pictorial figures or pictographs were carved on bones usually with religious grounds. Eventually, in the Qin dynasty, the script was homogenized as it had became a major tool for running the Chinese state.

The Chinese way of calligraphy was introduced to Japan around AD 600. Since that time, in Japan calligraphy has been practiced continuously. It has formed its own ways particularly in the Zen approach.

Nowadays in Japan pupils learn the art of Japanese Calligraphy and it can be studied in high school or universities along with other art disciplines such as painting or music.

Finally, the emergence of performance calligraphy has made it a popular interest practiced together in groups by the younger generation. Performance calligraphy has also been introduced to the West and it seems to fascinate many people.

Japanese Calligraphy and Zen

Zen has had a notable impact in Japanese calligraphy. The most popular symbol of the Zen style of Japanese calligraphy is the enso circle. The calligrapher brushes the enso circle of enlightenment in one fluent stroke that is never reshaped or altered.

Zen calligraphy, the Way of the Brush, is a sort of meditation in action.